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Character Startup Guide
Warnings * This guide is FULL of spoilers from this point onwards. Read it at your own risk. * This guide is written for AG players. Although some advice will be of use to non-AG players, there is a specific Non-AG Startup page. * It's strongly recommended to try the game first without help so that you don't miss out on the fun of discovering things for yourself. After that you can do it "better" (or at least quicker) with a second character. Many long-time players have gone this route. * This guide aims to take a character from the start of the game to a medium/high level. It's basically a power-leveling guide, and as such is oriented to both the new player and the "hardcore" character creator. *An effort has been made to explain or link each game concept the first time it's used. *Quests are mentioned, not explained. More information about the individual quests can be found in the Quest List. Search for them by name. *Useful equipment will be listed along with the adventure it's earned in. *This guide is not in any way meant to be complete, nor authoritative. Check the Game Updates for changes that could have made these strategies and approaches invalid and/or suboptimal. Tips for new players * In a mechanical way of thinking, this game is all about 3 resources: Gold, Experience (from now on, XP) and Adventurers Tokens (from now on, AT). There is an almost infinite amount of Gold and XP in the game, only limited by your availability of time to dedicate to Grinding. However, there is a hard limit on how many AT you can get without donating (all sources should be listed on the AT page, along with the rewards for donating). * Getting more gold is (relatively) quick and easy. From a certain point in the game, you will simply have too much gold, so it shouldn't be a worry. Spend it liberally, but reserve something like 10,000 - 25,000 gold tokens just in case (some quests may require significant quantities of gold). To learn how to get gold, go to Item Selling Guide. See also Gold. * You will (always) need more XP. For the moment, no player has managed (yet) to complete his or her character (level up to 100 in all Skills and Powers). So you should center in optimizing your earnings of XP. This guide will tackle that problem in depth. * XP comes in two "flavours": General and Specific. You can use General Experience to level up any Skill or Power. You can only use Specific Experience to level up the Skill or Power it's associated with. There is also a third type of Experience reward: experience to All Skills and Powers (AS&P). This reward gives Specific Experience to all the skills and powers your character has, so 128 XP to AS&P can mean from 128 XP (if you have only 1 skill) to 3712 XP (with all current 18 skills and 11 powers). This example should make clear why we want to have as many skills and powers as we can, as early as we can, to make all of these bonuses be the largest possible. There is an additional reason: the Quickstone. * One of the powers of the Quickstone is to give your character a bonus of 10% of the XP earned. This includes General as well as Specific, so the more Skills and Powers you have, the bigger the Quickstone bonus for an AS&P XP award. * "Purists" try not to do any adventure that gives AS&P XP until they have most or all skills and powers. Here we will take an approach a little bit more relaxed, making some of them early for their AT rewards. * Upgrade your skills and powers whenever possible, but (if possible) use only Specific XP. Save General XP to buy big things (there are several items that require significant amounts of General XP to "level up"), and as a reserve to be able to level up a needed skill or power just before the adventure that requires it. * Whenever you gain some AT, spend them well in Tallys. You can always get them back by paying a small amount of gold. Don't hesitate to change equipment as many times as necessary. * Enemies difficulty will be related to your MR and SP (See Combat). As you progress through the game, MR starts being less important than SP. * Remember to always be fully loaded with 3 Blessings of Protection. Guide Start * Register for the game * Become AG as soon as possible (there are bonuses to make it in the same day). * Create your character. Make sure you have at least 25% of Experience bonus in everything. If you can get 30% bonus to Powers, and 25% to most Skills, that's pretty ideal. If you have patience, a good distribution is all Stats to 19 or 20, and at most one of them at 18. This is because there is one (and only one) item into the game (the Elixir of the Torrent from Stoneback Hill) that will allow you to increase one (and just one) of your stats two points (if you roll as suggested, it will be from 18 or 19 to 20). You can learn more about how your stats affect your Exp. bonuses in the XP Calculator. * You can create your character before upgrading to AG, if the subscription process is going to take some time. You can even play part of the first part of this guide. First part: Getting most skills and landing on your feet. See this post and this thread for the original information freely merged here. Skills: Select Arcana, Thievery, Diplomacy and Unarmed Combat. Allocate 1 skill point to 3 skills and and 17 skill points to the fourth skill. The suggested skills are not the only possibilities, but they're the best in terms of "getting all skills as soon as possible". If you plan on fighting unarmed, put the points into Unarmed Combat. For other characters, you can distribute the points as desired. Arcana is extremely important for identifying magic items, and if you start it at 17 and have an experience bonus of at least 20%, you should be able to ID your own items as soon as you complete the Ancient Dhormu quest in Bentlimb Wood. On the other hand, Thievery is one of the most commonly checked skills in the game, and a high (70+) Diplomacy is extremely helpful in a few particular situations later in the game, so getting a head start won't hurt. Powers: Select Restoration. Get Necromancy from the startup scenario The Wandering Undead. If you've followed this guide about good Stats, you'll have around MR 37 and SP 42, which is more than enough. You'll start with 128 General XP, 2000 Gold and 0 AT. First Quests #Check the building with a blue door to get your bonuses for joining. If you plan to make a second "better" character but keep the first, DO NOT take the Adventurer's Bonus Pack (which includes 16 Adv Tokens). Just ONE of your characters can have it, so make sure it's the one you're going to play the most. You get, however, the 8 Adv Tokens, 2048 General XP and 2000 gold for being AG as soon as you log in, and can get another 3072 General XP as a "special bonus". You may or may not have the Dragonclaw Amulet waiting for you. If it isn't there yet, it will be after The Caves of Westwold adventure. #Visit Irzynn the Outfitter in Hawklor to get some weapons and armor. #Go visit Irzynn in Durnsig (check Kingdom of Tysa to find locations from now on) to get Goblindoom and the Adventurer's Ring. Equip them, and now you should have around MR 45 and SP 50. #Go to the village market, buy yourself a dwelling and drop there whatever you don't need. If you're AG, sell items at Grutlang's Trading Post, else at Teek's Battle Shop and Talinus (check Item Selling Guide). #Let's go hunting for Skills. First, visit Blade Square in Trithik to learn Archery from "Criveson's Fur & Fletching". Remember to buy a bow. #While in Trithik, visit the Lyrelocke Monastery, for your first quest and shield. At the end, learn Weaponry and Weaponry:Bashing from Brother Kol. Save. #Do the quest A Cold Winter's Night. Replay it until you get Knight's Leggings, Knight's Helm or Knight's Breastplate. #A boring but necessary task: Have Random Encounters in Trithik (some of them are dangerous at this stage, so save and be careful) until you find a man being pursued by some grey tunnelers. He's Borimm Locksong, and can teach you Woodsmanship. Be sure to revisit him until he refuses to train you anymore (you'll need a total of 208 experience to reach Woodsmanship 20). #Travel to Port Hallik. Do quest. Learn Seamanship by visiting the Eye of the Sea repeatedly (about 7 times). If you continue to visit the Eye your skill will be increased another +2 twice (also seems to be about 7 times for each boost). #Save your game before doing this step. Go to Bentlimb Wood and help the ancient dhormu Toribikk. If you've followed these steps, he will grant you Lore. (If he doesn't, quit without saving and try again.) Use the generous Specific XP to level up Arcana, Lore and Woodsmanship. You can level up Restoration now, too, or wait until you've completed Stoneback Hill and have access to the additional 10% experience bonus granted by the Grey Circle. #Travel to Talinus and learn all available Weaponry subskills in Thofyra's Training Yard for 256 XP each. (Weaponry: Slashing, Weaponry: Hacking, Weaponry: Stabbing, and Weaponry: Polearms). Now you have 14 skills. You're only missing: Horsemanship, Weaponry:Lances (both available at Saarngard Isle, much later), Weaponry:Troll-bont (from PG IV) and Weaponry:Staves (available only through the Adventurer Collective, though there is no clear consensus as to when is the best time to acquire this skill). #Stock up in Blessings of Protection, now you're in Talinus, and save "Salwyn the priest". #Now we must do some quests to start getting XP, AT, and interesting items. In Hawklor, you can do , , , , and . You can also Explore Hawklor, make sure you get the , keep in mind to avoid a small (64 XP) reward to AS&P if you want to do it the purist way. #From this moment you can start grinding at Axepath Cemetery, but just the first two sections (6 undead). This will help you to accumulate some XP and gold. It will be much easier if you level up your Necromancy and Restoration a bit (lv 20-30). Also you can find better equipment. Remember to rest and save often: you're still weak. #Now the first "big" adventure: The Caves of Westwold. This will unlock several interesting adventures, and will give you the Enchanted Map if you didn't have it yet. #As you go through Hawklor you'll find . Visit the Stoneback Inn after Westwold for Mirew Piperen and 12 AT. Avoid mingling among the patrons and meeting the grey-haired man, Jodd Halthen, because he unlocks and that quest is 9+ at MR 60. The old man seated alone is Tasserik, The Golden Knight, who reveals to you the location of a cave in Sageholt, which you should not attempt until much later due to its difficulty. Complete "The Hunted Man" to unlock the Shattered Skull series. #Travel to Wurmwrit Farm and acquire a pumpkin. It will transform into a Grinning Jack-O-Lantern and will unlock Crow Hill. Go to Trithik, follow the dragon and start the quest (you still are not powerful enough to complete it) so it does not annoy you while traveling. #Travel to Durnsig. You can do "Barn infestation" (small reward for your time) and " ." This last one is specially good in terms of equipment. Hint: Spend a little XP to level up Necromancy until level 20, and use it to beat all fights. You will get a lot of Specific XP, useful to level up even further. By now you should be around MR 55 SP 60. #Let's try A Haunting in Durnsig if you have time. If you are in a hurry, you can try later. That's not because it being a long quest (it is) but the fact that its reward changes every 90 minutes. You may need to try it several times, and the time spent waiting can reach days. You should settle for either Dragonwing Breastplate or Warlord's Helm for "best" item, or Varkyn's Trick Ring (SAVE before using) if you want the maximum amount of AT. #After Durnsig, or while waiting for the counter to restart, you should start collecting AT. Tend to A Little Matter About An Orb in Hawklor for 4 AT (purist warning: 128 to AS&P), go to Talinus to have for 4 AT and a for a good ring, then go to Trithik and clean (purist warning: 64 XP to AS&P) for 8 AT, help in Deadwater Shoals for 4 AT, beat (purist warning: 128 XP to AS&P) in Sevenhorn for 8 AT, , return only the box for 8 AT and keep the . Now you should have a minimum of 56 AT, plus maybe some AT from seasonal adventures not covered in this guide, 16 AT from the Adventurer Bonus Pack, AT received by donating (if you are restarting) and maybe the . In this guide we'll take for granted only the AT won during the game. If you have more than that, act accordingly. #Beat for nice XP and the opportunity to buy The Hale Blade. You can sell the Golden Cup of Zaafyl if you need gold, it doesn't have a further use. #You can also do (keep the for later) and the first missions of The Silver Crest now. #Now is the moment to unlock several interesting game features by completing Stoneback Hill. With some Restoration (level up with Specific XP from Bentlimb wood and Killing Hand of Winter) and Necromancy (you will have 30+ if you followed my advice about the " " quest) it will be a piece of cake. Second Part: Complete Powers collection and become stronger. #Now for the Powers: Do quests, and maybe even some Grinding, until you amass 15360 General XP. When you reach the needed mark, go to the Grey Circle, and learn 5 powers. This can be done incrementally as you amass the necessary XP, but make sure to learn the 5 powers before gaining additional powers in the next steps (it's cheaper to do it like this). You can get whatever you want except Elementalism. #Do the quest of Daggerspire to get Elementalism, Kozuron's Hood and Ring Of Mystic Ability. You will also unlock the Graldok bazaar (beware of Illiok), second best place to sell your stuff (Check again the Item Selling Guide). #Go to the Murk and do the two missions available there. You will get the last two Powers. Now you have 10 powers (all of them except Shadow Magic). You can now increase by +3 your NvR by reading the Tattered Scroll you got in Stoneback Hill #Now is the time to think big: Do in the Old North Wood for 4+4+16 = 24 AT, 7680 general exp and 512 xp to All Skills and Powers. #If you were going the purist way, do now the AT quests mentioned earlier that give AS&P XP. Now you should have more than 72 AT (between free AT and Tallys Items), so go to Tallys, return equipment until you free 72 AT, and buy the . This blade, lethal to undead, will be your best friend until you get the Creyn Blade. #With Rotbane Sword on your hand, start grinding the Axepath Cemetery. Keep the good armor items, sell the rest, buy Unmatched Plated armor from Gryphook's as soon as you have enough money (start by the belt, you'll keep it almost to the end). The purpose of this grinding is to get . Keep training until you can get to the final arch, retreat, save, and repeat the final fight as many times as needed until you get >250 gold and the Creyn Blade. This can be long, boring and tiresome, so you can alternate between "normal" grinding (straight run to the rewards) and some repeated assaults on Lord Creyn. You can also start confronting the CHR to unlock Moonpath and start making the rest of the low-level quests to amass some XP in the pauses between grinding runs. Don't start running the other grinding spots until your SP rises over 100. Third Part: Collect powerful items and bonuses This section is still under developement #You can do Quest:The Old Cathedral and Quest: A Little Matter About an Orb for gold and item rewards. #Once you have the Creyn Blade, sell back the Rotbane Sword and pick up good items at Tallys. One of the first should be a good shield. #Try to complete as many quests as possible, including the Proving Grounds as your MR rises, in less than 90 days. Before that deadline, free up 72 AT and spend them on a Quickstone. Don't buy the Quickstone before you finish some Proving Grounds for big amounts of AT, because it will save your results from your last 90 days, even as soon as you buy it, so until that moment, your ATs will be better spent on Tallys equipment to help you through the adventures. Now you have your Quickstone, enjoy the impressive bonus from all your accumulated playing experience. #You've also got to contemplate some other necessary or almost necessary AT spendings (RoI, AC, Zumryn's battlegrounds, Residence, etc). When to do all these things is up to you, but I really recommend that you put it all in hold for a while until you complete most of the game's main content (RoI, Runeskin, The Shattered Skull, 7 Goblins, and a lot of other quests). That way you'll have more "free" AT to buy things from Tallys and the game experience will be considerably quicker and easier. #Get one of the Shimmering or Iakor's weapons from Runeskin. Upgrade it at Tarn and 7 Goblins. That will be your best weapon from now on, unless you ##Dedicate to Staves and switch to Tzal-Toalth ##Plan to donate to the game and use weapons from Tallys #Possibly the best "standard" high-end equipment: #*Weapons: #** A Shimmering or Iakor's weapon from Runeskin #** Demonscourge from Runeskin #** Tzal-Toalth from The Shattered Skull #** Trielra's Staff from #** Hale Blade, Creyn Blade and others for bonuses. #*Glittering Ice Shield from Moonpath #*Dragonwing (A Haunting in Durnsig) or Nightsong (PG III) breastplate #*Kozuron's Hood (Daggerspire) for NvR or Iakor's Crown for MR/SP #*Spikefist Gauntlets (The Shattered Skull Part II: Spikefist The Mighty) #*Feet, Arms, Legs and Waist with either Unmatched Plate, Nightsong gear, or Dragongem (Tallys) gear. #*Snake's Head Medallion (Saarngard Isle) or Ghor-Tiln's Eye (Cave of Four Spirits) #*Emerald Bracelet (Quest: Gralgarak's Tomb), Assassin's Bracelet (Quest: Lift the Box) or Iakor's Bracelet (Runeskin) #*Cloak Of The Wanderer (Residence) or Iakor's Cape (Runeskin) if you don't want to buy a Residence. #*Cane-Shaped Pendant (Quest:A Blizzard in The Hills) #*Rynduil's Crimson Tabard (PG V) #*A wide selection of rings, for example: #** Runeskin's Ring (Runeskin), Ring of Long Shadows (Phantom Assassin), Band Of Gruljasa (Tarn) and Ring of Dark Valour (Quest:Retrieve the missing standing stone jewel) for maximum MR/SP #** Runeskin's Ring, Sorcerer's Band (PG IV), Ring Of Mystic Ability (Daggerspire) and Ring of Souls (Hawklor) for maximum NvR #* Other objects #** Phantom Weapon and Armour (RoI) #** Finger of Dread (Tarramyre) #** Wand of Dragonfire (Vault of The Iron Dragon) #** Goblin Totem Block (Fogbough Outer Wood) #** The Bowl of Blood ( ) #** Wisp of Black Mist ( ) So get going and get those incomplete quests done and look around for new adventures... The Adventure Finder, some exploring, the Quest List and the Game Updates will be your friends from now on. You're now really between the most powerful adventurers of this perilous age! Credits This page was started by Flytrap (flytrpa). The updated version would have been impossible without the hard work of nearvirgo and psychoadept. Scarbrow expanded the guide after the wiki migration. Contributions of many other members of the forum were priceless.